Saturday, October 08, 2011

the bubble





as a person who grew up in slightly above the poverty line, reading a stylist article about indulgence and consumption, jolted my perspectives into a tumble. so life is all about keeping up with the Kardashians and our Facebook friends? a reality show family as a metaphor? indeed, life is very much different amongst the middle classes in the western world.

as i read along the lines of acquiring material objects to make our lives better, i reflected during the times i've gone hungry as a child. but then i was never hungry as a nipper, my parents, despite their weaknesses in some areas of their traits provided for us, their kids, the basic food groups. what i lacked was a dollhouse and top of the line toys and barbie dolls but those were merely stuff, very superficial.

back to the present and the article; eating out three times a week, coating ourselves in designer, up-market brands, competing with Facebook friend JJ who just checked into Fortnum and Mason, pushing ourselves to counter-act, are hardly a necessity for in-depth fulfilment and happiness. of course, there are other areas of Facebook one-upmanship; career, the spouse, the number of children, the width, length, design of the house, travels, status updates. all bollocks.

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